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Article 2213 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: yodaiken@chelm.cs.umass.edu (victor yodaiken)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Scaled up slug brains
Message-ID: <40779@dime.cs.umass.edu>
Date: 17 Dec 91 20:21:18 GMT
References: <351@idtg.UUCP> <40746@dime.cs.umass.edu> <12745@pitt.UUCP>
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In article <12745@pitt.UUCP> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
>In article <40746@dime.cs.umass.edu> yodaiken@chelm.cs.umass.edu (victor yodaiken) writes:
>>
>>Follows similarly (ie. not at all). There is no evidence to suggest that
>>human thought is possible without the operation of human bodies. Can
>>language develop without vocal chords (even in the deaf)? I don't know, but
>>you don't either. Is there a major hormonal component to the development
>>of thought? Is the interplay between movement and sensation key to
>>development of brains? .... 
>>
>Those deaf from birth are called deaf-mutes because they never
>learn to vocalize.  Yet they have normal language using signing.
>Helen Keller's brain developed powerful cognitive skills despite
>being blind and deaf.  Obviously there is interplay between movement
>and sensation and these are key to development of the associated
>skills.  Such interplay would have to be provided to any intelligent robot.
>

Did she subvocalize? Can humans learn to speak in wahtever form without
human bodies --- would a human brain in a chimp body develop language?
I'm trying to point out that it may not pay to adopt a simple minded
reductionist model here. And it certainly not that case that we "know"
that all cognition is the product of the operation of brain neurons alone.





